Airbnb Laysoff 30 Per Cent Recruiting Staff, Despite Reporting A Profitable Year: Report

The layoff report came despite the company reporting its first profitable year in 2022, with a net income of $1.9 billion

The job cuts have affected 0.4 per cent of the company's total workforce of 6,800.

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Home rental and hospitality major Airbnb has reportedly laid off 30 percent of its recruiting staff this week, reported Bloomberg. According to the report, the job cuts have affected 0.4 per cent of the company's total workforce of 6,800. The layoff report came despite the company reporting its first profitable year in 2022, with a net income of $1.9 billion. 

The layoff report also comes amid the company announcement of more hirings. An  Airbnb spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We've become a leaner and more focused company over the last three years. The company expects to grow its headcount this year."

During the pandemic, Airbnb laid off 25 per cent of its workforce or about 1,900 employees.

“We’re going to continue to grow, but we’re going to grow modestly," Chief Financial Officer Dave Stephenson said on the company’s latest earnings call that it still sees room to hire, Livemint reported, adding he expects headcount growth of 2-4 per cent this year against 11 per cent headcount growth in 2022.

Airbnb reported 24 per cent growth in its revenue for the fourth quarter that ended December 31. It reported $319 million in net income for the quarter, up from $55 million a year earlier.

Airbnb in a letter to shareholders said that it's seeing continued strong demand at the start of 2023, the report said. The company said it expects to "continue hiring at a judicious pace in 2023."

In the meantime, Waymo, a division of Alphabet Inc. that develops self-driving technology, fired 137 workers on Friday as part of its second round of layoffs, reported Mint. Waymo's job cuts are part of broader industry-wide reductions that also affected Rivian Automotive Inc, General Motors Co, Twitter Inc, and Meta Platforms Inc.

As part of the layoffs, Waymo has terminated certain engineering positions in order to "concentrate on commercial success". Waymo has already eliminated 209 positions this year.

Earlier in January, Microsoft announced 10,000 job cuts, or nearly 5 per cent of its workforce. Amazon also is cutting 18,000 jobs. Facebook’s parent Meta also said it is trimming 11,000 positions across the world.